Language and communication and their special needs educational support with special consideration of inclusive educational processes
Language and communication and their special needs educational support with special consideration of inclusive educational processes
Welcome to the website of our team,
here you will find information about the people involved, our research projects and focus areas as well as our publications.
Thank you for your interest!
Preamble
Language and communication are key prerequisites for participation, education and active involvement in society. They enable understanding, relationship-building and learning – and are, at the same time, closely linked to individual developmental trajectories as well as social, cultural and institutional contexts.
Our specialist group on Language and Communication and its support within special educational needs, with a particular focus on inclusive educational processes, is dedicated to the research, teaching and further development of professional practice across the full breadth of this key field of special education.
mission statement
Our mission statement is shaped by an inclusive, diversity-sensitive and resource-oriented understanding of language and communication. We assume that linguistic and communicative diversity is the norm and that educational processes must be designed in such a way that all learners, regardless of their individual circumstances, support needs or institutional contexts, are given the best possible opportunities for development and participation. However, there are also language and communication disorders that require special attention and support within educational institutions such as nurseries and schools, as well as in post-school and vocational pathways, alongside additional speech and language therapy.
Scientific rigour, ethical responsibility and practical relevance form the cornerstones of our work.
Professional Identity
Our specialist group views language and communication as dynamic, social and culturally embedded processes. Special educational support is not conceived in terms of deficits, but rather as a supportive, reflective and systemically grounded approach that takes into account both individual developmental needs and the structural conditions of education and society.
The key pillars of our professional identity are:
- theories of inclusive education and special educational needs
- linguistic, psycholinguistic and developmental psychological perspectives
- interdisciplinary links, including to speech and language therapy, linguistics, educational science and psychology
- evidence-based diagnostic, therapeutic and support approaches, on which language-sensitive and language-promoting classroom design is also based
- critical reflection on institutional and societal frameworks
Target groups
Our research and work focus on children and young people with speech and communication disorders. In addition to SES in the narrower sense, this also encompasses SES in the context of other primary disorders, such as those associated with neurodiversity—including autism and ADHD— genetic syndromes and sensory impairments, environment-related speech difficulties (e.g. due to a lack of quantity or quality of linguistic input), disorders of speech fluency (e.g. stammering, cluttering) and communication (e.g. selective mutism), right through to acquired, neurogenic disorders of language and speech, such as aphasia, dysarthria, speech apraxia, voice and swallowing disorders, as well as cognitive communication disorders.
Particular attention is paid to the quality of institutional learning environments in early years settings, language support and speech and language therapy schools, as well as inclusive mainstream schools. In diagnosis and support planning, the interface between the education and health systems is always taken into account. For example, collaboration between speech and language therapists and teachers plays a crucial role. Furthermore, transition processes – from the family to the childcare centre, from the pre-primary to the primary level, and from the primary to the secondary level – are examined in terms of the challenges they pose for the development of educational and technical language in children and young people with speech and communication development difficulties.
A holistic view of language and communication is particularly important to us in this context. Consequently, the focus on language and communication is closely linked to social-emotional, cognitive, physical-motor and sensory difficulties.
Furthermore, mindful use of one’s own voice is a key cross-cutting aspect in the professional development of all (prospective) teachers.
Our teaching, further education and continuing professional development programmes are aimed at:
- Students of special educational needs, teaching degree programmes and related disciplines
- Teachers, special needs teachers and educational professionals working in inclusive settings
- Academics and early-career researchers
- Educational institutions, advisory centres and partners in the field
- Stakeholders in education administration and policy